I am really looking forward to this - I have applied for the beta (fingers crossed I get invited when the EU beta opens) and I will definitely be buying it when it comes out - looks great and I love strategy card style games like this...what do you guys think? Anyone else either in the beta at the moment or hoping to be invited?
Hi Kylara. Like Christian says, it's actually going to be a Free to Play game when it is officially released. It'll probably make most of it's money through the Arena mode - which in Beta is currently costing either $1.99 or 150 in-game gold to play and is a random draft set of cards/heroes up against another RL opponent with the same restrictions. So basically pvp but without constructed decks so players can't buy/craft their way to victory.
That said, players will probably also be able to spend real money on Legendary cards so that they can stomp over the F2P crowd in non-Arena play.
I've been waiting for a key for months. Some people have been given multiple keys and others none. Does anyone have any spare I can use? You don't have to pay for the game, Kylara, it will be free.
Did you end up getting an invite, or stuck like me, just hoping you can play, haha? I've watched some stuff on twitch.tv, now there's a strange site (addictive too). It caught me off guard.
I don't think it's open to European players yet, Christian. The players/videos I've seen have been US ones.
I've not actually had a chance to play it myself yet as I'm in the UK too although I have watched a scary amount of Youtube videos, twitch channels and even the tournament Blizzard hosted at this year's Blizzcon, so I'd like to think I'm pretty familiar with the game, especially in the Arena mode setting.
It looks fab and even with Legendary cards in your deck you're not guaranteed a win. It seems fairly well balanced though some classes/cards are definitely a little OP for their cost at the moment. This being a Blizzard game though, nerfbats have already been swung and I'm sure they'll keep an eye on the game balance when it goes live.
If you're really interested, it's worth checking out the Hearthstone panel chat from Blizzcon. It'll be on Youtube somewhere (I can probably post a link if you really want me to) as they outlined some ideas for where they want the game to go and evolve such as cross-platform play; e.g. Mobile vs Desktop, expansion packs, daily PvE/PvP quests and so on, which sounded pretty encouraging.
I would watch out for the numerous websites/links offering Beta keys though. From what I can see/have heard, there's an awful lot of scammers out there taking advantage of people's desire to play this game. Like you I'm waiting for the EU Beta to open and have expressed my desire to do so via the official Blizzard website so that's the route I'd advise people to follow unless they want some dodgy viruses on their PC